Aspects described herein relate to electrical power distribution, and more specifically, to switching parallel power converters to provide power to electric motors.
Electric vehicles typically use power converters to convert direct current (DC) power from a battery to alternating current (AC) power for use by electric motors that drive the wheels of the vehicles. Power converters are rated to convert a certain amount of power. Increasing the rating of the power converter results in a power converter that is heavier and more expensive. In instances in which separate motors drive the different wheels of the vehicle, dedicated power converters have been provided for each of the motors. However, determining an appropriate power rating for the dedicated power converters requires a tradeoff. For example, consider a front-wheel drive vehicle that includes an AC motor at each front wheel and a 100 kilowatt (kW) battery. In such an exemplary vehicle, the dedicated power converters for each wheel could have a rating of 50 kW to evenly split the power of the battery between the two motors. However, if one of the wheels does not have traction (e.g., is on ice or mud), 50% of the vehicle power is unusable. To avoid having unusable power, the ratings for the dedicated power converters could each be increased to (up to) 100 kW so that all of the power from the battery could be directed to one motor in the event that one of the wheels does not have traction. However, providing 100 kW power converters to each wheel would increase the cost and weight of the vehicle.